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Telecom - Secretary General Letter addressed to Distribution List

Ottawa, 27 September 2023

Our reference: 1011-NOC2022-0147

Distribution List

Subject: Secretary General Letter - Telecom - PIAC’s Procedural Request Regarding Costs in Telecom Notice of Consultation 2022-147 – Commission decision

PIAC’s Procedural Request and Costs Application

On 7 June 2023, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) filed a procedural request with the Commission seeking interim costs for its participation in Telecom Notice of Consultation 2022-147 (the proceeding). Specifically, PIAC requested that the Commission allow all public interest interveners in the proceeding to file an application for costs for their participation up to 31 May 2023 (the last completed procedural step in the proceeding), provided that interveners undertake to continue to participate in the proceeding and file a reconciling final costs claim. PIAC also requested that the costs be based on the criteria for an award of final costs set out in the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (Rules of Practice and Procedure).

In support of its procedural request, PIAC noted that the delay in the anticipated conclusion of the proceeding meant that it would be financially challenged to continue working on the proceeding and representing consumers in the Far North.

The Commission did not receive any comments in response to PIAC’s procedural request.

On 2 August 2023, PIAC filed, with the Commission, an application for costs for its participation up to 31 May 2023 in the proceeding. In response, Northwestel Inc. and TELUS Communications Inc. argued that it was premature to address PIAC’s costs application until the Commission had ruled on PIAC’s procedural request.  

Commission’s Determination

As a preliminary matter, the Commission would like to address the nature of PIAC’s procedural request. In its procedural request, PIAC characterized its request as one for interim costs, but acknowledged that the test for an award of interim costs set out in the Rules of Practice and Procedure is not applicable in the present situation because interim costs are to be sought at the outset of a proceeding. PIAC therefore requested that the Commission allow all public interest interveners in the proceeding to file an application for costs up to 31 May 2023 and that these costs be based on the criteria for an award of final costs set out in section 68 of the Rules of Practice and Procedure.

The Commission notes that the purpose of the Commission’s interim costs framework is to allow a party to apply for costs at the outset of a proceeding when it otherwise would not have sufficient financial resources to participate effectively in the proceeding. PIAC’s procedural request does not fit within this interim costs framework and is more accurately characterized as a request for costs for its participation up to 31 May 2023 and prior to the close of the record of the proceeding. The Commission will therefore assess PIAC’s procedural request on that basis.

In accordance with the Rules of Practice and Procedure, the deadline to file an application for final costs is 30 days after the proceeding’s last date to file documents (known as the “close of record”). In the proceeding, the Commission originally set the date to submit final submissions for 9 June 2023, which would have meant that parties had 30 days after that date to file an application for final costs. However, in a letter dated on 24 May 2023, the Commission suspended the date to submit final submissions in the proceeding. As a result, by suspending the date to submit final submissions, the deadline for parties to file an application for final costs was also effectively suspended.

The Commission acknowledges the impact that suspending the date to submit final submissions, and in particular the deadline to file an application for final costs, may have on the financial resources of some parties to continue to participate in the proceeding. The proceeding is both lengthy and complex and has involved several rounds of submissions, including the latest requests for information dated 25 August 2023, and will also involve the upcoming process to close the record of the proceeding. As such, to facilitate continued, active and effective participation, the Commission considers that it would be in the public interest to allow parties in the proceeding to file an application for costs for their participation up to 31 May 2023.

Accordingly, the Commission approves, with modifications, PIAC’s procedural request. The Commission therefore sets out the following process to allow all parties to file an application for costs for their participation up to 31 May 2023 in the proceeding:

In submitting their applications for costs up to 31 May 2023, parties must use the criteria for final costs set out in section 68 of the Rules of Practice and Procedure. For more information on costs applications, parties can consult the Commission’s page on How to claim telecommunications proceeding expenses, as well as the Commission’s page on Additional information regarding telecommunications proceeding costs.

The Commission notes that the above process to allow parties to file an application for costs for their participation up to 31 May 2023 in the proceeding is optional. If parties prefer to file an application for final costs at the end of the proceeding, they may choose to do so in accordance with the Rules of Practice and Procedure.

The Commission further notes that any costs award resulting from the above process will consist of an interim order, which will allow the Commission, for example, to reduce the award if a party fails to continue to participate in the proceeding in a responsible manner. Parties are therefore expected to file a supplemental final costs application, including any costs incurred after 31 May 2023, at which time a final costs order will be issued.

A copy of this letter will be placed on the public record of this proceeding.

Yours sincerely,

Claude Doucet
Secretary General

Distribution List:  Parties to Telecom Notice of Consultation 2022-147

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